Text messaging is one of the most basic services smartphones offer and when a powerful, premium phone such as the #Samsung #Galaxy Note 7 (#Note7) is concerned, sending text messages is a very simple task and it should work all time, right? Wrong. Based on complaints we received, text messaging is among the most commonly reported issues with Samsung’s flagships starting from the very first Galaxy.

How to fix Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that can’t send and receive text messages [Troubleshooting Guide]In this post, I will tackle the problem wherein the phone cannot send and receive text messages or SMS. Aside from that I will also address yet another common problem related to texting–multimedia messaging or MMS.

Before anything else, if you have another issue with your new device, make sure you visit our Note 7 troubleshooting page where we list down all links that point to problems our readers sent. We update the page every week so try to browse through it to find related issues and feel free to use our suggested solutions or troubleshooting guides. If they don’t work for you, however, you can always reach out to us by completing our Android issues questionnaire.

Majority of smartphones in the United States are carried by big carriers and service providers so these units are already provisioned when they reach the hands of the users. In short, they must be ready to use after purchase and while other services might take a little time activating, sending and receiving text messages should be the first service to be fully working. So, what would you do if your new device cannot send and receive SMS?

Step 1: Reboot your phone

The moment you notice your Note 7 failed to send a simple text message, don’t do anything yet, instead reboot your phone as hardware and firmware glitches happen all the time. A reboot is a very effective troubleshooting procedure you can do for issues that occurred without apparent reason such as this.

After the reboot, try to compose a text message and send it to your own number.

Step 2: Check the signal bars

If a text message doesn’t go through, check the signal bars to see if it has something to do with the reception. Remember, if the phone cannot receive decent signal from the tower, it may not be able to send and receive text messages and even calls.

Assuming the device shows that it’s getting good signal, try making a call to any number on your contact list to know if that goes through. If it does, then the problem might be with the Message Center Number and since we don’t know what’s the correct series, you need to call your service provider and ask the rep to give it to you or set it up on your device.

If the test message, however, went through but your phone hasn’t received it, immediately check the number it was sent to and if it’s correct, verify your phone has enough storage. Your phone downloads messages into its internal storage so if there’s not enough space, try to move some apps, files, pictures, etc. to your SD card if you have one just to free up some space.

But then again, if you’re relying on your phone to notify you when messages come in, double-check if there are unread messages in the inbox. It might have received it without you knowing about it.

Step 3: Do the master reset

If your Galaxy Note 7 is getting a decent signal from your provider and that test message didn’t go through, then take time backing up your data and files and reset your phone to bring it back to its factory defaults as it might be just a misconfiguration issue:

Backup your data and files saved in the phone’s internal storage.

Remove your Google account to deactivate the anti-theft function of the phone.

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.

When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds. NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.

Using the Volume Down button, highlight the option ‘wipe data / factory reset’’ and press the Power key to select it.

Press the Volume Down button a few times to highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and press the Power key to select it.

It may take a few seconds to complete the reset so just wait.

Once completed, the option ‘Reboot system now’ must be highlighted, so press the Power button to restart your phone.

Picture messages or texts with attached pictures and/or files are considered MMS. Even simple texts that use emojis belong to this category. The big difference between SMS and MMS is that the latter require mobile data to transmit files that are potentially large in size or beyond the limit of the cellular network used for SMS.

If the SMS has the Message Center Number to connect to the cellular network, MMS also has an APN (Access Point Name) to connect to your provider’s mobile data network. With those things said, here’s what you need to do if your new Note7 fails to send and/or receive MMS…

Step 1: Verify if mobile data is enabled in your phone

It is the first requirement that should be met. Without it, there’s no way for your phone to connect to the network, thus, transmission of files and messages that should be sent through it won’t work.

If it’s already enabled, try composing a test MMS attaching a small sized file or photo and send it to your own number. If it goes through, try sending a test message to one of your contacts and confirm if he/she receives it and if so, then the problem might be with the size of file your send. Compressing the files or downsizing the photo may fix this issue. I also suggest you call your provider to inquire about size limit in MMS.

Step 2: Check the APN settings

If the mobile data is already enabled and your Note 7 can’t still send and receive MMS, then it must be the APN settings that have a problem. Such information can always be found in your provider’s website so try to check if the APN in your phone is correct or not and if not, then make necessary changes. If the problem still persists or if you can’t edit the APN, you should call your service provider and let the rep take care of the problem for you.

Step 3: Call service provider for account-related concerns

Do this if mobile data is enabled and that you’ve verified that the APN on your phone is correct. When everything else seems fine yet your phone is having a problem, then it must an account-related issue. Obviously, we can’t do something about it except call your provider and inquire whether there’s a bar on your account from using such service.

Also, if your phone is carried by your current service provider and that there was a recent update, you should try wiping the cache partition or even go as far as the master reset before bringing it back to the store. Here’s how you wipe the cache partition…

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Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.

When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds. NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.

Using the Volume Down button, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.

Use the Volume Down button again to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.

It may take a few seconds to completely wipe the cache partition so wait a little.

Once completed, the option ‘Reboot system now’ must be highlighted, so press the Power button to restart your phone.